Archive: Education
An Inch of Rain - What Does it Mean?
A rain gauge. Image courtesy NASA. Although the definition of "an inch of rain" sounds simple enough--rainfall totaling one inch in some sort of measuring cup--what an inch of rain really stands for is sometimes not always clear. When I...
By Don Lipman | September 15, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
Celebrate Weather & Climate With Year of Science
* Our Full Forecast | UnitedCast | Meet Tropical Storm Danny * Confused about science, or want to learn more about it? Year of Science 2009 is a national, year-long celebration to improve public understanding about how science works, why...
By Ann Posegate | August 26, 2009; 01:45 PM ET | Comments (0)
It's Not the Heat...
Debunking misconceptions about humidity * Finally, Some Rain? Full Forecast | NatCast | D.C.'s Lightning Rod * * Outside Now? Radar, Temps & More: Weather Wall | Lightning Map * Photo courtesy Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Unless you've...
By Don Lipman | July 23, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (13)
Weather Makes for Summer Fun With Kids
* Full Forecast Through the July 4th Weekend * Billy and Maria are characters featured in the National Severe Storm Laboratory's downloadable coloring books for children. School's out for the summer, so what to do with the kids? Be it...
By Steve Tracton | July 2, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Local Students Do Their Share for Cleaner Air
Wx and the City * Full Forecast Through the Fourth * This past spring, students throughout the D.C.-Baltimore area were asked to create posters that addressed "The ABCs of Air Quality: The Air, the Bay and Climate Change." The contest...
By Ann Posegate | July 1, 2009; 10:45 AM ET | Comments (1)
Dictating the Superiority of Dew Point
* Moderate Dew Points: Full Forecast Through the Fourth * I can't say I was surprised that, in a recent reader poll, relative humidity beat out dew point as the preferred metric for describing humidity. Dew point is a technical...
By Jason Samenow | June 30, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (15)
San Francisco's Summertime Stratus Deck
* Flash Flood Watch till 4 AM Friday | Full Forecast | NatCast * Boaters travel by the Golden Gate Bridge and the bay's opening to the Pacific Ocean on May 30, 2009. Clouds filter through thanks to onshore winds...
By Ian Livingston | June 11, 2009; 10:45 AM ET | Comments (11)
Reader Mail: Use of the Dewpoint Should Die
By Don Lipman, Volunteer Contributor "Matt from D.C." wants to abolish popular use of the dewpoint. In an email to the Capital Weather Gang, he rants: It just seems pointless to introduce a term that seems of no use to...
By Capital Weather Gang | June 9, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (31)
Making Severe Weather Less Scary for Kids
Wx and the City * How Hot This Weekend? Full Forecast | Niagara Falls in Spring * Thunder, lightning, tornadoes and other kinds of severe weather can put adults on edge... and can be downright scary for kids. A better...
By Ann Posegate | April 24, 2009; 11:45 AM ET | Comments (5)
Dueling Springs: Meteorological vs. Astronomical
Wx and the City * Slowly Cooling: Our Full Forecast | Later: The Moon & Hurricanes * A classic spring sunrise. By Capital Weather Gang photographer Kevin Ambrose. Similar to last March, this March has quickly transitioned from winter to...
By Ann Posegate | March 9, 2009; 10:45 AM ET | Comments (2)
The Science and Wonder of Snowflakes
Wx and the City * Mild Showers, Then Cold Rain: Full Forecast | Weather Wall * Courtesy UCAR With the D.C. area's first dusting of snow this past weekend and the slight possibility of more flakes this week, I got...
By Ann Posegate | December 10, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (6)
Talking to Kids about Hurricanes
Wx and the City By Ann Posegate Tropical storms and hurricanes can be both fascinating and frightening for kids, let alone adults. Watching an image on TV of a rotating white blob over a blue-and-green map might not translate in...
By Capital Weather Gang | September 3, 2008; 10:45 AM ET | Comments (2)
Cool Tools for 'Canes
By Ann Posegate "How strong is a hurricane? Just listen." Besides reconnaissance flights and ocean buoys, there may be potential to measure the strength of hurricanes by listening to their sound deep under the ocean surface. Leave it to MIT...
By Jason Samenow | August 28, 2008; 06:30 PM ET | Comments (4)
Local Weather Conference: July 18-19
Louis Uccellini, Director of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction, speaks at the 2006 Eastern U.S. Weather Conference. By Capital Weather Gang photographer and EasternUSWx.com co-founder Ian Livingston. On July 18 and 19, the 4th annual Eastern United States Weather...
By Ian Livingston | July 13, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
How Humid's That Air? Ask Your Hair.
Wx and the City By Ann Posegate, Guest Contributor A hair hygrometer (date unknown). Courtesy NOAA. D.C.'s tropical rainforest-like summer weather has begun, and I know I'm not the only one out there with a frizzy hair problem as a...
By Capital Weather Gang | July 9, 2008; 10:45 AM ET | Comments (10)
Weird Clouds... From Another World?
Courtesy U.S. Navy. Photos by John Gay (left) and Jarod Hodge (right). What do we have here?... Grist for the mill for the UFO believers out there? At first glance, the images above may indeed look to some like a...
By Steve Tracton | May 16, 2008; 11:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Weather 101: The Madness to March Winds
On average, March is the windiest month in the D.C. area, and this March certainly has not disappointed. Already this month, wind gusts at Reagan National Airport have reached 74 mph on March 5, 60 mph on March 8 and...
By Dan Stillman | March 14, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (12)
School Colors: Turning Green
DC's Sidwell Friends School was featured this week on The Weather Channel's Forecast Earth program for being the first LEED Platinum certified K-12 school building in the world. Although there are now three more such schools, Sidwell's Middle School is...
By Steve Scolnik | March 1, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Model Muttering
Note: This post is rated "G", suitable for all audiences; does not contain the weather "s" word. Weather model skill as a function of year, from The Emergence of Numerical Weather Prediction, Peter Lynch, Cambridge University Press, 2006. Chart ©...
By Steve Scolnik | February 28, 2008; 07:00 PM ET | Comments (0)
Bucket O' Bookmarks: Site for Kids, Teachers
Image from The Weather Channel The latest (January) issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society has a pointer to a new Weather Channel web site for kids. The WeatherED section contains a weather encyclopedia grouped into topics such...
By Steve Scolnik | February 25, 2008; 07:00 PM ET | Comments (2)
If the Missile Misses
A satellite's journey through the atmosphere From the Pacific Ocean, a Navy ship is expected as early as tonight or tomorrow to shoot down, or at least attempt to do so, an out-of-control U.S. spy satellite that is falling toward...
By Dan Stillman | February 20, 2008; 11:30 PM ET | Comments (22)
Bucket O' Bookmarks: BudBurst
Citizen scientists sought Cinquefoil wildflowers in Colorado. (Photo by Carlye Calvin, ©UCAR.) Gardeners, for years you've been relying on data from meteorologists to plan your activities; now you have a chance to repay the favor by helping climate research. The...
By Steve Scolnik | February 15, 2008; 06:00 PM ET | Comments (2)
Partly Sunny, Partly Cloudy, Mostly Confusing
Your input wanted: Help us define these terms Pop quiz! And lucky for you, it's multiple choice: What's the difference between "partly sunny" and "partly cloudy"? A. "Partly sunny" is more sunny than "partly cloudy." B. "Partly sunny" is less...
By Dan Stillman | February 14, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (28)
Local Lecture: Meet a Met
Following last month's presentation by Paul Kocin, former Weather Channel winter expert, the local chapter of the American Meteorological Society is hosting another operational forecaster for its February meeting next week. Ken Reeves, expert senior meteorologist and director of forecasting...
By Steve Scolnik | February 14, 2008; 05:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Media: Weather for the Eyes and Ears
New shows available in audio and video, online and on TV Coming soon to the National Geographic Channel is Six Degrees Could Change the World, based on the book, Six Degrees, which was just released in the U.S. after being...
By Steve Scolnik | February 5, 2008; 07:00 PM ET | Comments (0)
Free/Low-Cost Classes
Skywarn; climate course; astronomy for non-scientists If you're interested in learning something about meteorology and also performing a public service, the National Weather Service (NWS) has several Skywarn classes scheduled in the metro region. Skywarn is a program through which...
By Steve Scolnik | January 26, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (10)
